Hawks say depth won't be a problem

Bowman, Quenneville believe team is well-stocked for rigors of compressed schedule

January 13, 2013|By Chris Kuc, Chicago Tribune reporter

Standing side-by-side while coach Joel Quenneville diagrammed a play on a white board suctioned to the glass, Blackhawks players immersed themselves in the first day of training camp for what will be a season like none of them has experienced.

On Saturday in Los Angeles, the Hawks will kick off the lockout-shortened 48-game regular season against the defending champion Kings. It figures to be a good benchmark for where the Hawks stand as they attempt to erase the memories of two consecutive first-round postseason departures.

Based on the confidence level of Quenneville and general manager Stan Bowman, the pieces are in place to do just that.

"We feel we're strong in a lot of the areas (where) depth is going to be challenged like never before in a season like this," Quenneville said following a two-hour session at Johnny's IceHouse West. "It's a 48-game playoff series and we think we're ready."

With a shortened camp and a regular season that will be squeezed into 99 days, depth could be the deciding factor and the Hawks believe theirs is on the level of the Mariana Trench.

To that end, Bowman said new additions via trades or free-agent signings aren't likely to occur before the team heads to LA.

"It's possible, but it's unlikely," Bowman said. "We feel strong with the depth that we have. We certainly like the young players that have been playing in Rockford and they're really in midseason form. And we also have a number of players who were playing in Europe as well, so we have quite a few guys who are ready to play and the other guys have been training. Personnel-wise we certainly have a lot of pieces we like. We're just excited to see how it looks once we start playing. We have to see what this group can do."

After adding only veteran defensemen Sheldon Brookbank and Michal Rozsival during the summer, the Hawks will rely on virtually the same team as last season — which included an influx of players from the AHL that complemented the core group of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith, among others.

Bowman said more prospects are in the pipeline to help this season and beyond when the salary cap drops as the result of the new collective bargaining agreement.

"We have a lot of young players on the doorstep if they're not here already that are going to be significant players," Bowman said. "We have some that are turning pro at the end of this year, guys like (Mark) McNeill and (Phillip) Danault. All of those young players have low salaries and they're not even on this team yet. The bulk of our players up front are signed beyond this year, so their numbers will stay constant. There are a few guys who are up (contract-wise) at the end of the year, but we don't have a large number of guys who are going to get big increases."

The cap will be $70.2 million this season and then drop to $64.3 next season and never drop lower than that figure during the course of the 10-year CBA. Bowman said the Hawks are in good shape under those numbers and have room to maneuver once the April 3 trade deadline approaches.

"It's going to be a crunch for a lot of teams," Bowman said. "There are teams that are looking forward to that and are concerned, but I think we're positioned very well. So when it comes to moves within the season I wouldn't rule anything out based. We're going to see how the season goes and if there's something that makes sense to make us a better team then we'll approach it."